there's a light at the end of this tunnel, but it isn't yours
by thelittlelioness
Summary: The intimidate danger is over by the end of HoH, but with Percy and Annabeth back, the turmoil inside Nico is just as strong as ever. One-sided Percico. Oneshot. Angsty.


A/N: Another unplanned short oneshot, yay! As much of an intense Percabeth shipper I am, fics like _Kiss a Boy in Tokyo Town _(read it-it's wonderful) is making me ship Percico just as passionately. I do really love this whole sad one-sided thing that's canon now (yay!) and this kind of just plopped out in an effort to further procrastinate world history reading homework. It originated from me reading the Nico page on PJ wiki and refreshing my memory on his history. I couldn't get the quote used at the beginning out of my head...and thus this fic was born. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Nico di Angelo or either of the Percy Jackson series or anything associated. Fortunately. Rick Riordan is doing a pretty fantastic job with them, let me say.

**there's a light at the end of this tunnel, but it isn't yours**

_"Percy is the most powerful half-blood I've ever met."_

It's true.

Nico di Angelo resents Reyna for joking around about it, calling the son of Posidon weak, albeit teasingly.

Who else could have survived bathing in the river Styx? Who else could have journeyed through Tartarus and lived to tell the tale? Nico barely did himself and Hades is his _father_.

Maybe he's biased. Percy was among the first demigods Nico ever met, back in the days of Mythomagic, before he knew who his father was, who _he_ was.

Percy (and Annabeth and Thalia and Grover, and the hunters too) saved him and Bianca, so of course Nico idolized him. He trusted Percy enough to rely on him to keep his sister safe, and eventually forgave him even when he couldn't.

Nico's witnessed Percy raging with power, slashing monsters to death at the Battle of Manhattan. He's seen him regretful and somber, facing the fact that he broke his promise to protect Bianca. Percy's been on the brink of death and has lost his memories and has been in love, and Nico's seen it all.

But, at the same time, he hasn't.

Maybe he's seen Percy at both his highest and his lowest, but that's because he's the ghost king, quietly observing, unnoticed to the rest of the world.

What Nico _hasn't_ seen is everything he longs for: The mad bluegreen of his eyes, full of passion and love, right after he kisses him. The embarrassed blush on his face when he takes Nico home with him to see Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis, two of the most amazing people in the world, in Nico's eyes, for raising such an amazing boy. Nico hasn't tasted the salt and blueberry he postulates Percy tastes like, and he won't ever get the opportunity to discover what his hair smells like when he leans in for a goodnight kiss to the head after a long day at camp.

And part of him wants to hate Annabeth, but he can't bring himself to, not really. Perhaps it's because he knows what a bright and clever and _deserving_ girl she is. Or it could be due to the fact that she has saved Percy many a times over the last several years, selflessly taking poisoned wounds for him, giving him motivation for keeping in the fight when things got hard.

In fact, Nico surmises masochistically, all the things he can claim about his relationship with Percy Jackson, Annabeth can too, and more. They've known each other longer, closer. She was his best friend, and Nico was just that little boy with the sister who died under his watch. Annabeth was someone to love and blush over, and Nico was the oldyoung boy to feel sorry for.

But, you know, at least there's that. Percy _has_ someone to love him, someone he loves just as equally. Annabeth is there for him when Percy is at his highest and lowest, the times when Nico is now too pained to pay attention anymore.

Nico hear a soft, feminine giggle and turns his head to see Percy lightly kissing Annabeth's ear, both of them grinning wildly. He pops another pomegranate seed into his mouth and tries to look anywhere besides the happy couple.

Maybe it's not quite enough for him, but it sure isn't nothing.


End file.
